Door-latch.



W.J. RODGERS.

DOOR LATCH.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- 14. me.

1 179,04 1 Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET WITNESSES ATTORNEY w. J. RODGERS.

DOOR LATCH.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 14, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

iNVENTOR Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY V in the claims,

. tional view on the line 2+2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7

WILLIAM J. RODGERS, OF LESTERSHIRE, NEW YORK.

DOOR-LATCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

Application filed January 14;, 1916. Serial No. 72,115.

1 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM J. RODGERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lestershire, in the county of Broome and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Do0r- Latches, of which the following is a specification.

An object of my invention. is to provide a latch which may be'used upon a screen door and which is so arranged that a knob or pull is presented on the outer side of the door and is so connected with the parts that as a pulling strain is exerted upon said knob, the latch isreleased and the door will be swung open the inner latch releasing means being a'plate which when pressed will cause the securing latch to be swung from its operative position, further pressure upon the plate causing the door to be opened.

A further object is so to construct the parts that a lock or stop is provided to be set to hold the latch operating meansagainst movement and thus to be secured with the latch set in a locking relation or in a relation in-which it is moved to the inoperative position and the door is permitted to have free swinging movement in either direction.

A still further object is to so construct the parts that the device may be used upon a door opening at the right or the left hand and also that the latch releasing pull and the push plate may be disposed either above or below the mounting of the latch proper.

With the above and other objects in View, my invention consists in certain novel fee-1 tures ofconstruction and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter set forth in connection with the accompanying drawings and then more particularly pointed out In the drawings: Figure '1 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the screen door and the door casing with my latch device applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical sec- 3 is a transverse sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 with the parts illustrated in the position which they take when the latch is moved to the inoperative relation. 1 Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of the swinging latch. Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of the atch. eng g g plate... Fig- 7111s a trans erse.

sectional view to better illustrate the manl or'other suitable fastening means being provided for this purpose; As isshown in Fig. 1-, this; base plate 3 is preferably made in the form of an elongated rectangle and approximately centrally at one edge of the plate the bearing studs or lugs 5 are provided, these bearing lugs having the bearing openings thereof formed to be in line with the longitudinal extent of the base plate.

The bearing brackets 6' and? are secured on the base plate 3 at equallyspaced apart points abovea-nd below the positioning ,of

the lugs 5 and-these bearina'brackets are'so positioned that their bearings are disposed" transversely ofthe base plate 3. v

.A latch member 8 has the central pivot bearing 9 andone of the arms 10 which will be hereinafter referred toas the locking arm is disposed from thebearing opening in V such a relation that it will be received between the bearing lugs '5 as the latch member is mounted by the pin 11 to be capable of swinging movement. between these bearing lugs, the arm 12 of this latch member being preferably-disposed at an angle fromthe arm 10 and in such .arelation that it will overhang the base plate 3 in line with the bearing brackets 6 and 7 A. leaf spring 13 is .secured on the base plate to engage behind the locking arm 10 of the latch member and thus this latch memberis normally 7 held in the position better shown in Fig. 3.

where the locking arm 10 thereof projects 3 and of the doorjframe proper to which the base plate is secured.

An operating lever 14 is pivotally'mount' maining end'of this operating leverbeiug widened out to form thepush plate 17. A latch engaging plate 18 isprovidedto be se- '100' beyond the extreme edge of the base plate cured to ;the 1door casing 2,with one end.

thereof projecting slightly from the casing in the manner better shown in Fig. 8, and thus as the screen door is swung to the closed position, the latch member 8 will be swung to have its locked arm 10 projecting beyond the edge of the screen door frame and to a position to abut against the latch engaging plate 18 to prevent return swinging movement of the door, the plate 18 acting to bear against the outer edge of the locking arm 10 of the latch member to displace the same from the projecting position against the tension of the spring 13 as the door is brought to the closed relation and this spring 13 exerting the proper tension to again throw the latch member to the operative position. When it is desired to swing the latch memher '8 to the released relation this may be accomplished by exerting pressure against the push plate 17 and consequently swinging the operating lever 14 in such a relation that the arm 16 thereof engages beneath the arm 12 of the latch member to swing the same around its pivot and against the tension of the spring 13 to the released position, or

where the screen door is to be opened from the outside, the baseplate 3 is provided with an opening 19 which is continued on through the door frame 1, a rod 20 being connected with the inner side of the push'plate 17 and extended through this opening 19 at the continuation thereof through the 'door frame and provided on its outer end with the knob 21 which thus forms a door pull which is disposed tobe accessible from the outside to permit actuation of the mechanism to release the latch from its engaged position with respect to the latch plate 18.

The stopblocks 22 and 23 are provided on the ends of the base plate 3 beyond the points of mounting of the bracket members 6 and 7, and the metal of the base plate is cored out at 24: and 25 adjacent these stop blocks 22 and 23, this cored out portion be ing extended beneath the blocks to provide sockets. A locking plate 26, which is better shown in Fig. 8, is mounted on the rear side of the operating lever 14, the headed studs 27 being provided to hold the same against displacement and to permit endwise sliding movement of this plate, and the pins 29 and 30 being mounted on the operating lever 14 to limit movement of the plate in either direction. A tongue 31 is struck up from the metal of the plate '26 and is provided with a hook-shaped foot 32, and as this plate26 is in its main portion mounted beneath the push plate 17, it is preferable that the end 33 be provided to extend upwardly on either side of the body portion of the operating lever 14 to permit the plate to be grasped and moved in its sliding path to each of its extreme positions.

VVh'en it is "desired to use the device of my invention as a screen door latch only and to permit release of the latch member 8 through the medium of the door pull or the push plate, the locking plate 26 will be moved to a relation that it is engaged against the pin 29 and when the parts are in this relation, as is shown in Fig. 4, the operating lever 1 f may be given swinging movement within a path to move the latch member 8 against the tension of the spring 13 to the released position, and as the swing ing force may be removed from the opera ing lever, the latch will again be returned. to its extended position through the medium of the spring 13. Now, as it is desired to lock the operating lever in such a position that swinging movement thereof to withdraw the latch member against the tension of the spring is permitted, the latch member will be permitted to come to the operative relation after which the locking plate 26 is moved to engage at its lower end against the pin and in this position the foot 32of'the tongue 31 will be disposed above the stop block 33 and swinging movement of the operating lever 14 is stopped. -On some occasions it may be desired to release the latch member 8 entirely from the operative relation, and under these circumstances, the operating lever 1% is swung to a position that the arm 16 thereof moves the latch member 8 to the inoperative position and then by moving the locking plate 26 to a re lation that the foot 32 is engaged in the cored out opening 25 beneath the stop block 23, the pressure is maintained against the 4 overhanging arm 12 of the latch member 8, and this latch member is permanently secure-d against outward swinging movement under the tension of the spring 13.

As has been stated, the bearing bracket member 6 is moved on the base plate 3 above the bearing lugs 5 and the stop block 22 and the cored out portion 2a are also above the mounting for the bearing member 8, likewise it is desirable that the opening be prof same relative 'dispositi'on'azs is shown in the present disclosure.

'From the foregoing it will be seen that l have provided a door latch and lock device which may be used in the place of the usual hook or other latch or lock generally applied to screen doors, and other like light swinging doors, and which will permit the door to be opened from either the outside or the inside by exerting a force upon a por-- tion of the latch mechanism in a direction which will cause the door to be moved to the desired open position, and further it will be i seen that when the stop plate-is moved to a position that the foot thereof engages with one of the stop blocks ofthe base plate, the latch is securely and positively locked against actuation by movement a of the operating lever, this also being true of the setting of the parts when the latch member is swung to be held in the inoperative relation, and while I have herein shown and described only one specific form of the invention, it will be understood that modifications in the construction of the parts and in the combination of the same might be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence I do not wish to be limited to the exact disclosure but only to such points as may be set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1. A door latch comprising a pivotally mounted latch member, an operating lever mounted to be capable of swinging movement to engage with and move said latch to I an inoperative relation, a stop, and means ad ustably mounted on sa1d lever to be capable of movement to a position to engage with said stop.

2. A door latch comprising a pivotally mounted latch member, an operating lever pivotally mounted to swing against said latch to move the same to an inoperative relation, a block provided with a socket therebeneath, and adjustable means mounted on the lever to be moved to engage in the socket to hold the lever against operative ber and swing the same against the tension of the spring to the inoperative relation, a stop block carried by the base plate, and means carried by the operating lever to be moved to a relation to engage with the stop block to hold the lever against swinging movement.

4:. A door latch comprising a base plate, a latchmember pivotally mounted on said plate, a spring actingto normally hold said latch member in a relation that it is extended to an operative position, an operating 7 lever pivotally mounted on said base plate to actuate said latch member when said lever is moved and provided with portions by which movement is transmitted thereto from the inside and the outside of the door, said base plate provided with a socket, and means carried by the operating lever to be engaged in said socket as the lever is moved to a position to swing the latch member to the inoperative relation tothus hold the parts in this relation.

5. A door latch comprisingabase plate to be secured to a door frame adjacent the edge socket adjacent the stop block, and stop means carried by said operating lever to be engaged with the stop block to hold the operating lever againstmovement in one direction andto be engaged in the socket to retain the same against swinging movement in the opposite direction. 7

6. A door latch comprising a base plate to be secured to the door frame adjacent the swinging edge thereof,-a latch engaging plate to be mounted to the door casing, f

a latch pivotally mounted on said base plate, a spring engaging with the said latch memher to normally hold the same in a relation to abut against the latch engaging plate carried by the casing, an operating lever pivotally mounted on the base plate to have an extension arm thereof in a relation to engage with the latch member as the lever is swung, a pushplate provided on the opposite end of the operating lever, means connected with said operating lever to be extended through the door topermit actuation thereof from the outside, a stop block' mounted on the base plate, a cored out socket provided adjacent the stop block, and

a plate slidably mounted on said operating lever and provided with afoot to engage against the stop to hold the lever in one of its operative relations and to be engaged in the socket to hold the levervin a second extreme position. i

7. A door latch comprising an. elongated base plate to be secured to the door frame adjacent one end thereof, a latch engaging plate to be secured to the door casing, a latchmember pivotally mounted on said base plate at the approximate longitudinal center thereof, bearings provided on the 7 base plate at each side of the mounting of i the latch member, a spring to normally hold the latch member swung to arelation. to engage with the latch plate, an operating lever pivotally. mounted'in one of said bearings carried by the base plate, and provided with an extension arm to engage with the latch member, a push plate provided on the end of the operating lever, a door pull 0011- sockets adjacent said stop blocks, a locking plate slidably mounted on said operating lever and provided With a foot to be engaged against one of said stop blocks to hold the operating lever against movement to engage the latch member and to be fitted in the sockets to hold the operating lever in a relation to restrain the latch member inthe inoperative relation, and means to limit movement of said locking plate, the plu ralityfof bearings and stop blocks and the central mounting 01" the latch member permitting the operating lever to he titted at either end of the base plate and thus adapting the device to be fitted to either side of a door.

In testimony whereof I a'ffiX my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM J. RODGERS. Witnesses: 1

MARGARET NORTH,

OLIVER R. JOHNSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner 01' ratencs,

Washington, 13:0. 

